By crossing party lines Tuesday, a handful of Democrats helped stall an attempt to ban destination resorts in the Metolius River Basin. The bill has since been “tabled,” giving supporters time to twist their colleagues’ arms. In anticipation of a revote, we’d like to remind waffling lawmakers what’s at stake, and it isn’t merely development near the Metolius River. It is the Legislature’s credibility on land use matters.

But don’t take our word for it. Consider, instead, the words of a couple of Democrats, as reported in The Oregonian.

Said Rep. Brent Barton, D-Clackamas, “It’s not like I want to pave the Metolius,” a position shared by every sentient being in Oregon, including the would-be developers of area resorts. Barton opposed the bill, rather, because “this process was flawed. We’re talking about the sanctity of the Oregon land-use process, the sanctity of the Oregon way.”

And here’s what Speaker of the House Dave Hunt had to say: “My ‘no’ vote was cast because I believe this bill usurps the land-use process that Jefferson County adopted in approving these resorts. It is not our job to decide if Jefferson County made the right or the wrong decision. In this case, I believe the rules were followed by the county, and the state then changed the rules in the middle of the game.”

This is exactly what many people — Jefferson County officials, the resort developers, lawmakers who respect the land use process, and this editorial page — have said for months.

Supporters of “protection” have argued that their poison pill — the creation of an Area of Critical State Concern — is entirely consistent with the process. This is patent nonsense, as the principled positions of Barton, Hunt and other Democratic defectors suggest. Creating an Area of Critical State Concern at so late a date would be, at the very least, a laughably transparent violation of the spirit of the land use system so many lawmakers claim to revere — except when it produces something they don’t like. Something like, say, a destination resort within a few miles of powerful state Sen. Betsy Johnson’s large “cabin” near the Metolius River’s headwaters (roughly 4,600 square feet, according to Jefferson County property records).

Ultimately, the Metolius basin legislation is a test of the Legislature’s credibility with respect to Oregon’s land use system. Sooner or later, property-rights advocates are bound to challenge the system in ways many lawmakers won’t like. When that happens, those who voted Tuesday in favor of the Metolius bill — including Bend Rep. Judy Stiegler — will have a hard time bemoaning the threatened sanctity of the state’s land use law. After all, they rode roughshod over the law when it suited their purposes.

So far, the credibility problem is limited to those individual lawmakers who’ve supported the bill. Should HB 3298 re-emerge, pass and become law, however, the consequences will be more dire. The loss of credibility will belong to the Legislature itself, which as an institution will have declared the land use process an empty, if burdensome, exercise.

Is prohibiting destination resorts within three miles of Sen. Johnson’s personal resort worth that?